BART verdict: Oakland damage extensive from unrest; at least 80 arrested

Oakland officials on Friday morning were trying to sort out the damage after serious looting in the downtown area following the BART verdict in which an ex-officer who killed an unarmed man was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Crowds of people roamed the streets following Thursday’s verdict into early Friday, smashing storefront windows, stealing merchandise, setting trash fires and tagging walls.

According to Oakland police, more than 80 people were arrested. Among the stores looted included a Foot Locker, Sears, 24 Hour Fitness as well as jewelry stores. 

As of Friday, officials said calm had returned, and BART service -- which was stopped at some stations during the unrest -- had resumed.

Men sprayed graffiti on walls and windows on Broadway; one outside Tully’s Coffee read: “You can’t shoot us all.” Large fires billowed out of dumpsters on 20th Street and Telegraph Avenue.

At 20th Street and Broadway, authorities released smoke to disperse a crowd that was overrunning police and throwing bottles at officers, according to Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts.

Batts said there were probably about 100 troublemakers out of up to 800 people who showed up at 14th Street and Broadway after Thursday’s verdict, in which former transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, a white man, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Oscar J. Grant III, an unarmed black man, at the Fruitvale BART station on Jan.1, 2009. Prosecutors had sought a stronger conviction of second-degree murder.

Batts said there were probably about 100 troublemakers out of up to 800 people who showed up at 14th Street and Broadway after Thursday’s verdict, in which former transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, a white man, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Oscar J. Grant III, an unarmed black man, at the Fruitvale BART station on Jan.1, 2009. Prosecutors had sought a stronger conviction of second-degree murder.

Batts described the troublemakers as “anarchists” who came to Oakland to cause trouble and not peacefully express their views on the verdict.

“This city is not the wild, wild west,” he said. “We will allow people to protest, but we will allow it to be done peacefully.”

Workers in Oakland evacuated the downtown core after news broke that the verdict was to be read, and store owners boarded up windows.

The demonstration throughout the early evening was largely peaceful but tense. People held up photos of Grant as police equipped with helmets and riot gear looked on. A sign draped over a light post read: “Oakland says guilty.”

As darkness fell about 8 p.m. and most of the demonstrators went home, a group of people dressed in black and wearing black masks moved toward police.

“It was clear that they were taking an aggressive posture. ... We started taking a number of rocks and bottles,” Batts said. “We then made a dispersal order.”

By 8:30 p.m., the looting began. People broke windows at a Rite-Aid drugstore. A California Highway Patrol car window was smashed, as was the window of a news television van.

Residents could be heard yelling at the younger protesters in the street to “go home. This is our city. Don’t destroy it.”

The reaction in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved because of intense publicity in the Bay Area, was peaceful. A group of people upset with the verdict gathered in Leimert Park late Thursday, but the event was so peaceful that even the police left before the end. 

Grant’s uncle, Kenneth Johnson, 48, came to see the rally but did not stand up to speak. Johnson, who lives in Los Angeles, said he was unhappy with the verdict and thought justice had not been served.

He was, however, glad to see Angelenos rallying for Grant.

“L.A., Oakland, the same things go on both places,” he said.

-- Maria L. La Ganga in downtown Oakland; Abby Sewell in Leimert Park; and Rong-Gong Lin II and Louis Sahagun in Los Angeles

Photo: A demonstrator taunts officers in downtown Oakland. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Mountain Queen]

Let's not forget where Van Jones resided and spewed his rhetoric. It's people like him who support and encourage this kind of behavior.

[Brian]

Welcome to the police state, murder citizens while they are face down on the pavement and then when you get caught on 5 different videos, say oops just meant to taze the guy. Then go to trial and get off with a slap on the wrist while the victim is dead and his family for ever traumatized.

No need to destroy the neighborhood, go after the perpetrators!

[Philup McCrevise]

Hey all you protesters, If you want Civil rights..... First you have to act Civil!!

[Greg]

Calm down everyone - this headline was WAY overblown. I'm typing this from Oakland right now and everything looks.... the exact same as it did yesterday.

[Again]

Any cop anywhere always says, either, I thought he was going for a weapon, or Oops, I thought it was my Taser, you will never be able to convict any cop of Murder, as long as you have those two statements to rely on. Street justice is the only way, when court justice & Jurors are blind, to the reality of the world some people live in, and the bully, racist Cops that ARE out there.

[Blarney Barstone]

Note, the SF Chronicle refers to the events of last night as "protests." Yet looking at most of the nighttime photos, you'll be hard pressed to find one person carrying a protest sign, but a lot of them are carrying off sneakers from the looted Foot Locker store.

If the inept city government of Oakland really wanted to stop this situation from reoccurring, they just need to put the rioters on a payment plan, and create their own high-level law firm to fight off any life draining lawsuits from the political vultures. Naturally, it couldn't help to vote out their entire city council, whose greatest contribution has been to kill business and reward voters with 8pm parking tickets, and cutting the number of police (already at a a grossly inadequate level).

Batman if you're in LA, now is the time to head north with a king-size bat utility belt.

[Sanjay]

Justice system worked exactly as it was planned to. The victim was denied justice because of the perpetrators race, a mourning family was left hanging because of the perpetrators race, a grieving community was left to cope by itself because of the perpetrators race, and the perpetrators himself has been the beneficiary because of his race. People here are all righteous calling these looters thugs and idiots, but where was your judgment when an unarmed civilian with a boot over his neck and face down was killed "APPARENTLY" my mistake. Neither Johannes Mehserle nor his family had the common decency to apologize for the mistake, instead they enacted a fake drama portraying themselves as the victims.

[ramona may]

so true scooter....

[Sandy]

ALL RETARDS, SAD, EVERYTHING IS COLOR, WHAT ABOUT THE TWO OJ KILLED, OH YEAR THEY WERE WHITE WHO CARES,
HOPE THEY GOT THE SIZE SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BobtheMediaGuy]

Looting a Footlocker, Sears, and jewelry stores clearly avenges an injustice to Oscar Grant. More minorities left without jobs, more businesses who will be packing up and leaving Oakland for good; minority business owners the biggest losers in what was nothing more than an well organized campaign to take advantage of a tragedy. "No work today. We're looting" was one of the more revealing cries for justice scrawled on bank wall. I wonder what would have happened if the police just didn't show up yesterday on Broadway. That certainly would've caught the marauders off guard.

[Mr. Rick]

I think Mr. Grant was killed by the cop. Murder 2. No humor here, but Jack McCoy culd have convictted him in a heartbeat.

[Gian]

It's sad to see that people will justify their criminal acts by claiming they were "outraged" by the verdict. people that participated in the looting and destroying of property are criminals..plain and simple.

[obama]

Not all cops are bad, you just read about the bad ones. Same way planes are safe but the media only reports crashes. This cop was definitely guilty but not of murder. Do u really think he intended on killing someone that day? Lakers win they riot, cop found guilty they riot. See the trend

[Karen Quintana]

With that verdict what are they trying to say? That the BART officer got away with murder. That's how I see it. I really don't want to hear anyone trying to justify what he did. He's guilty and should be punished accordingly. The rioting and all else is unnecessary. But, I can understand the anger. This was someone's son, who was executed, no excuses.

[color code]

@Frequent Visitor: Stereotype much? If you would have read this article correctly, you'd see that the event in LA after the verdict was entirely peaceful. Not something to be compared to the events which took place after the Lakers won. Those people were out of line, but keep in mind that they weren't protesting!! I think LA did a fine job of showing what a peaceful protest should be, in memory of Oscar J. Grant III.

[Heidi]

Watch one of the five videos, it was murder. The guy was already on the ground, clearly submissive, and then shot in the back. Tazing the guy was an unnecessary course of action, torture just for the sake of showing dominance. So the excuse, I thought it was my tazer doesn't fly in my book. What makes it murder was the intent. The policeman intended to physically punish Grant. Are these the people you want to protect you?

As for these protests, how dare you compare them to the LA Lakers riots. This is a man's life taken away and justice not served.

[Cinderella]

It doesn't make sense to burn and loot the very town you live in. What does that prove? Only that these people are so stupid and DO as always, look for a reason to be violent. Can't you ever behave "Normally"??!! It's almost comical to see it happening. "hey y'all lets burn down the town and break into da businesses....yeah, that will shows them- Lets break into da shoe store cause I'm mad....so I'll steal me some shoes...yeah that will show the white man I'm mad! What Morans you people are. Don't you "get it"???!
As a Human species, We don't burn down the very shelter we need. So that proves that there is a "Low-class, Un-Evolved type of human animal". SAD! And they demand equal rights? Um, NO! Their just putting the Chains of Slavery back on their ankles by their actions.

[phil]

Just primitive Baboons doing what they do best, random acts of violence, ignorant fools. was the officer wrong ? yes, but to destroy innocent peoples property ...Idiots.

[lamtrc]

Yeah, it is so injustic, so I have to loot stores... Give me a break. These people are just finding any excuse to let themselves loose. Send in the Chinese army, and see if anyone dares to misbehave.

[oscar]

there will never be peace if the law is one sided. sorry to say but only violence will bring about a voice to be heard. i encourage everybody to keep up the destruction until the laws is on the right track. i praise the minorities courage to stand up the white man law. we need to show them we will not tolerate this kind of inequality. when we stand together we can flip oakland upside down. my death shall not die in vain, "people"

[38packer]

To the idiot holding the sign, 'You can't shoot us all."

Yes they can, and holding a sign like that makes them want to.

[WKS]

Well, Matches Malone, the people were protesting because that young man was murdered, and his MURDERER only got 2-4 years on jail. Now, he got 2-4 years, he will do probably 2 maximum, and more likely, less than that.

There are people sitting in California prisosns right now with more years than that left to do on personal drup charges (i.e., possession, WITHOUT intent to distribute).

I need someone to explain to me exactly how a tazer and a gun feel the same? The butt of a gun is held in the swing of the thumb and forefinger, and grasped by the thumb and all other fingers, with the forefinger on the trigger. A tazer, on the other hand, is held between an even wider extended thumb and forefinger, grasped by ALL fingers, with the trigger mechanisms housed on either side of a butt, which must be depressed by both the tip of the thumb and the lower portion of the forefinger. The two feel VERY different, and would have felt different, even in a split second. Secondly, he's a trained officer. They receive extensive training and practice in reaching for and brandishing all weapons available to them. All weapons and tools are housed in the same belt location for all officers. Reaching for it becomes second nature. Like being able to tie a shoelace tucked under your leg, without looking, so is pulling your firearm. He knew EXACTLY where both were, and purposely pulled his gun. For that, he should been convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter.

And, to you, John Lieto; again, his conviction carries a pentaly of a 2-4 year prison sentence, not 14 years. It's highly unlikely that he'll serve 2 years, let alone 4 years.

To all of the racist individuals who've posted comments here (it's easy to tell a White racist because they always refer to people of color as "you people" or "those people" or "these people"), when something dire happens to one of your loved ones, I hope you'll remember your comments here, and repent. It's sickening to know that I may work and socialize with folks who will laugh with me, dine with me, and otherwise socialize with me, but deep inside, they are pure racists.

[Steven]

If a civilian had "accidentally" shot a police officer (no matter what the circumstances), he would get death.

If a police officer shoots a man lying on his back, he gets involuntary manslaughter.

The only justice here, is at the least, manslaughter.

[jon]

Racist people are funny, you know, except for the part when they go looting and acting like complete imbeciles.

[Mary]

Why do people always feel it's okay to destroy, loot and vandalize the hard working peoples business? I tend to think
they look for any reason to be destructive.